Just saw this ad on Craig's List, sigh.

There has to be about an hour's worth of time in this cutting and construction, add on materials cost, machinery wear-and-tear, overhead, etc.  "Well, as long as I make materials cost and have a little change left over to buy a new tool someday...." sort of mentality.    I remember my grandfather telling me a story.   He was a life-long truck farmer.  One day at the market, he asked one of other vendors there how he could sell his vegetables so cheap.   "Just how much cost do you have in the booth rent, the basket, the plants, the fertilizer, the expenses to transport here, and the labor & equipment-- you have to be loosing money."

 

The other fellow replied as he pulled out his till, "I have to be making money; look at what I have in the till here."

 

https://cincinnati.craigslist.org/grd/6076861969.html

Edited December 6, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston
tags added

I agree with you but a quick glance makes me believe it's probably not worth sixty bucks either. Looks like drywall screw construction, cheap dimensional timber and butt joints throughout. Might last a season.

 

Steve

Maybe got a lot of the wood from old pallets- but still it takes time to tear them apart and clean up.

3 2x4's and 15 fence boards plus hardware. he should be making about $.50 per unit

 

Sometimes it's not about the $$'s...Just having meaningful activity, breaking even and creating something useful. The market determines the actual value. My .$02

2 hours ago, Steve Krumanaker said:

I agree with you but a quick glance makes me believe it's probably not worth sixty bucks either. Looks like drywall screw construction, cheap dimensional timber and butt joints throughout. Might last a season.

 

Steve

Agreed, but pity the poor fellow trying to make a living out of making quality chairs.

 

"$400!  Why I can get it for $60 on Craig's List."

 

 

On a similar note, I've had a rash of La-z-boy recliner repairs in the last month.   Quality has fallen through the floor.   I bought one in 1978 and just got rid of it last year only because we had no place for it in the new house.   One today had a structural panel of OSB with two holes cut out leaving a 1 1/2" strip of OSB to support the footrest mechanism.

 

Edited April 6, 20179 yr by kmealy

15 minutes ago, kmealy said:

Agreed, but pity the poor fellow trying to make a living out of making quality chairs.

 

"$400!  Why I can get it for $60 on Craig's List."

 

 

On a similar note, I've had a rash of La-z-boy recliner repairs in the last month.   Quality has fallen through the floor.   I bought one in 1978 and just got rid of it last year only because we had no place for it in the new house.   One today had a structural panel of OSB with two holes cut out leaving a 1 1/2" strip of OSB to support the footrest mechanism.

 

 

Yea, a friend of mine who upholsters told me the same thing a couple years ago. His words, they have sold out to make a quick buck. Said he recommended them for years but can no longer do so.

 

Steve

I always thought of lazy boy as the Black and Decker of the furniture industry. Now that I've seen that picture, my opinion has sunk even lower. Not even Harbor Freight quality. 

Anybody ever hear of Sauder furniture? 

3 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Anybody ever hear of Sauder furniture?

Yep, wife and I had a home full of it in our very first 400 sqft apartment together by the beach, the paper simulated grain starting blistering off in months from the humid foggy evenings in the beach area, but hey, it was cheap, and we needed a place for "stuff".

2 hours ago, kmealy said:

On a similar note, I've had a rash of La-z-boy recliner repairs in the last month. 

 

so who make one in our size that's a good one...

Stick, we bought ours from a mom and pop furniture store. They were sold to that store by Best Furnishings. Both were made in South Carolina. The construction is all solid oak. Mechanisms work wonderfully. Plenty big, too.  

Made our coffee table out of white oak last year. Lumber was about $200-300. 

 

Want to buy one?  We'll start talking at $2750. 

3 hours ago, kmealy said:

Agreed, but pity the poor fellow trying to make a living out of making quality chairs.

 

"$400!  Why I can get it for $60 on Craig's List."

 

 

On a similar note, I've had a rash of La-z-boy recliner repairs in the last month.   Quality has fallen through the floor.   I bought one in 1978 and just got rid of it last year only because we had no place for it in the new house.   One today had a structural panel of OSB with two holes cut out leaving a 1 1/2" strip of OSB to support the footrest mechanism.

 

I have a Lane or Lazy Boy mission style with broke foot rest mech (clean in two by my grandson) .Where can I get a replacement and any idea how much?

10 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

I always thought of lazy boy as the Black and Decker of the furniture industry. Now that I've seen that picture, my opinion has sunk even lower. Not even Harbor Freight quality. 

Anybody ever hear of Sauder furniture? 

 Not only heard of them, but have a piece in my house (more in a moment). They are some distance north of me, and at one time apparently made quality stuff, they have a "park" of sorts where you can see old time shops and houses and other historical items. Somewhere they got sidelined by the RTA business, and for a short while we had a large store nearby that sold only their products. It's real crap, Wal Mart quality at higher prices. As for the piece in my house, I needed a temporary desk for the basement (the one I'm using right now) and bought it at the  restore for $12.....it's here until my shop gets functional.

Hey guys, I'd like to add a different perspective on work and pricing as you see in that Craigs List ad. First off, @kmealy I completely agree with your topic. So please don't take this analysis as if I am calling you out. I am not. And the first thought that came to my mind was the same as yours when I saw the link, and your statement. And I am not coming from a holier than thou perspective with what I am about to say, I am only offering another perspective is all.

 

What if, just what if the guy or gal who is making these benches, or insert any project "here" that seems labor and materials don't match actual cost, what it they are a beginner, or not, and they thought they'd make a stab at creating something to just create something, or how about creating something, and offering at a price they think is fair.

I come from a paradigm of projects like this being built by a disabled veteran, or a disabled person period, they could be dealing with many issues, but they just want their hands to stay busy. I have interacted with quite a few disabled veterans who are beginner woodworkers, and they have made the following statements, "I just need something to keep my mind off it all", and "I don't care about profit, I'll sell it to make my materials cost back", and "I'll buy material for another and do it again, I just need to stay busy", or, "I don't care if I lose money, I just need to stay busy". Or, here is the killer one for me, I have heard it many times from veterans in crisis who were looking for a hobby, they have actually said the following, "I just want to feel useful". My gosh, useful? After what they did for our nation? That one breaks my heart, I have heard and read the above statements many times in my interactions with our disabled veteran woodworkers.

You never know, there are many reasons why a bench like that shows up on Craigs List.

 

Hey one last thought, could also be a kid who's dad is letting the kid learn the hard way about running a business, and choosing his or her own pricing structure, a kid may have made it, and decided on a price, that he or she will soon regret, now that sounds like something I'd for my kids.

 

Like I said, not coming from a high horse here, just offering a different perspective. Ya, always gotta be that guy right! Send me to the penalty box.

11 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

I always thought of lazy boy as the Black and Decker of the furniture industry. Now that I've seen that picture, my opinion has sunk even lower. Not even Harbor Freight quality. 

Anybody ever hear of Sauder furniture? 

 

"Friends don't let friends buy particle board"!

 

Sauder pieces remind me of my early orange crate period in college.

2 minutes ago, schnewj said:

 

"Friends don't let friends buy particle board"!

 

Sauder pieces remind me of my early orange crate period in college.

Orange crates were of better quality. And so versatile, too.

1 hour ago, John Morris said:

....@kmealy

 

 

Like I said, not coming from a high horse here, just offering a different perspective. Ya, always gotta be that guy right! Send me to the penalty box.

 

All good points.   If you want to stay busy, there's always volunteer opportunities.  Habitat for Humanity comes to mind.  There are a couple of retired guys in the ww club that spend a lot of time -- one makes close to 1000 toy cars/trucks a year for our toy drive and another makes 400-500 small 'memory boxes" for Children's Hospital kids.   I do work 4 or 5 days a month for our local furniture bank.  And have been spending the last few weekends doing set construction for a youth theater program.

 

On the other hand, a father of a friend died a couple of years ago.   He was in a retirement home just down the street from our house and was wheelchair bound.  He had to give up his shop when he moved from PA.   He got involved in the retirement home's woodshop and gave me a small clock he'd had as gratitude for helping him out a couple of times.  My wife asked his son if he'd like the clock after his father died.  Eyes rolling, no, he had a lot of them at his house.

 

@Stick, as to a recommendation -- I'm not sure I have one.   All of my work nowadays is warranty type work, so it's generally less than five years old, some of it post-delivery problems.  And about 75% is via one local chain retailer.   I  have heard very good things about Hancock & Moore for leather recliners and there was one other (whose name escapes me right now) for fabric.   A lot of the better recliners I see carry Pratt & Lambert mechanisms (OEM), but even they have manufacturing in China and my sales rep has told me that they are different and he can't get parts that were manufactured in China.   I am still undecided on relative reliability of power vs manual recliners.   The cable pulls on manual tend to break regularly, but it's a cheap and easy repair.  Wiring, motors, and remote switches tend to go on power recliners.

 

About the only new piece of furniture I have bought in the last 20 years was a sofa from a customer.   Both the customer and the manufacturer are now out of business -- few people wanted the quality stuff.

Here's another La-z-boy from a couple of weeks ago, about 2 years old.   What might not be obvious is the amount of plastic and thin metal on the mechanism that are normally pretty beefy.   Also, more OSB

16 minutes ago, kmealy said:

If you want to stay busy, there's always volunteer opportunities.

In the context I was speaking kmealy, many of our veterans aren't even ready to leave the house yet. PTSD is a b#%ch. But they can stay close to home and make a bench, and sell it for 60 bucks. Hey, it's just how ya look at it.

I like the clock story, that was funny.